The Internet serves as the means for providing a wide variety of services for businesses as well as personal users. Users no longer need to watch television or read the newspaper for the news, sports, headlines or the weather, for example, but can readily find and access the desired information online. However, as easy as it has become to find information via the Internet, users prefer more effective and efficient means for accessing the desired information. When a user reboots, checking for new mail, the latest news stories, and a weather forecast means launching three different applications; an email program for mail, an RSS (really simple syndication) aggregator for news stories, for example, and a web browser for the weather, all of which add time to the start-up process.
One conventional means for providing quick access to information is by adding a shortcut to a client desktop that when selected, quickly launches an application (e.g., a browser) and routes the user interface (UI) to the desired information. However, even this process begins to take more time and effort than an experienced user desires.
More recent techniques for minimizing the user interaction for routinely accessing the same information eliminate the shortcut process by employing mini-applications, or light-weight single-purpose applications (e.g., gadgets). A gadget is a mini-application or single-purpose application that can be comprised of images and style sheets. The gadget usually requires runtime support from a host framework in order to run. Three basic types of web gadgets include RSS feed gadgets, first party gadgets, and third party gadgets. Web gadgets are displayed and operate when the user is at an associated webpage in a browser. Client-based gadgets run on the client and use a client object model as the host framework. Client gadgets can be docked at a certain location of the client UI or undocked (e.g., for floating on the desktop). Client gadgets can be visible at all times and do not require a browser. However, more flexibility in the use of single-purpose applications is desired.